Lord of the Flies

"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." (Luke 10:19)

It was about ten til’ seven and I was walking to get to my evening bible class, I soon learned that class got cancelled due to a movie night for the guys. No problem, I figured I would use the extra time to walk around the grounds, it was fairly nice weather to go for a walk. As I was walking up the road I met Jyoti and a couple other of the small boys and talked to them for a while, then continued up the road toward the tower. As I was going I remember dropping my keys, and as I was picking them up I hear screaming from down the road…"Manuel! Manuel!" It was Jyoti, and I quickly realized what she was screaming about. A wild bore, about the size of a small bear (no exaggeration) had broke through the barbed wire fencing and was running full speed through one of the fields headed toward the front gate. No big deal at first, but then after seeing me, it changed direction and was now barreling toward me.

I remember the boys telling me to watch out for these wild pigs because they have seriously injured and even killed people in neighboring villages. But never until this moment had I ever seen one, and now it was too close for comfort.

My instincts had me flying back down the road, but as I glanced back the possessed pig was right on my tail, grunting and snorting with its ugly charred black face. It was about five feet behind me when I made a quick turn off the road and into the field below, the bore continued straight and then broke through another fence and back into the brush. I couldn’t believe what just happened, I just got run down by a bore!

I learned later that only moments before the bore had tried to kill one of the dogs here, and I guess on his way out he wanted a taste of some white meat. Jyoti and the boys were shaking as they came to see how I was, I guess they have seen the worst of pig attacks so they kept saying "God is with you, God is with you" He definitely was. I will probably never forget that experience.

To this point in India I have dealt with snakes and scorpions…there are plenty of them here, but I think Jesus should have added "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions....and outrun the wild bore."

I always wondered how training for that 199 Mile race last year would be useful on the mission field…..now I know.